The Players ... a great (soggy) weekend in Jax

Hey all! I hope you had fantab weekends. Ours was SUCH a blast. Crazy, but a blast. 

OK so as I said Friday ... I went to happy hour with Erika and Shanessa. Super fun. So sad to see Shanessa leave. (I swear - they are dropping like flies here.) After a couple of drinks, I headed home for dinner with Josh and an early night. 

We popped-up bright and early to head to Ponte Vedra Saturday for the Player's Championship at TPC Sawgrass. 

Here I am about to "load-up" in my new dress ... that I just adore. 

Well it took us an hour to make it from our doorstep to Jacksonville. Acutally about 45 mins. We had to truck over to Ponte Vedra (basically Jax beach) so that took a little longer. 

AND THEN THERE WAS TRAFFIC ...

 

Lots of traffic

We sat in the line for about an hour. That's just to get in and park. Oy. 

But we arrived. It was packed but not too terribly hot, which made it bearable. Plus there were beer and food vendors (over-priced, of course) everywhere. 

Everything was so well manicured and gorgeous. There were elaborate (air conditioned) tents with seating areas and floral arrangements on every table. The landscaping/course itself was immaculate.  

The people were all beautiful too. The guys were wearing their little Polos and Lacostes tucked into khakis. The gals were wearing adorable dresses and rompers with comfortable shoes. 

Josh in front of the clubhouse ... how nice is that? 

Yeah, the "clubhouse pass" was around $400. No thanks! 

But then came a deluge and the niceties went to pieces. The people did too (go to pieces that is). 

* Later, I heard that people were threatening to mow down the security guards to get into the clubhouse. *

Most of us were lucky enough to make it into the most sturdy tent (it was more of a temp building) on the property. It had a bar and food vendor inside plus a separate area for merchandise. 

Check out that rain on the windows

A replica of the 17th hole .... plus a weather warning on the screen

People were having meltdowns. Some were worried that a tornado would touch down any moment. And, it was rough for a few, but it was rain. That was all. ***Love the way people immediately jump to the worst case scenario.***

After two hours of being packed in a room with strangers people were bored (only exacerbated by the upbeat music), pissed and, more than anything, drunky drunk, drunk. I felt bad for the poor kids that had nothing - like rum - to help pass the time. 

A shot of the outdoor bar area. I feel that more than a few one night stands started here. 

Going into the third hour, there was a complete societal meltdown. It was like being in the Superdome during Katrinia. People just didn't give a @*!# anymore. 

Evidenced here.

See how the arrangement was shoved aside to make room for all the filth?

Pretty soon the rain slacked-up enough and we were ready to get out of there. Wet or no. Now, let me preface this by saying that I packed an umbrella. I packed a rain jacket. Josh said, "I don't want to carry that around." We left it in the car. 

Mmmm hmmm. So instead of being like these folks ...

We were going it like this. 

But by that time, we didn't care ... it was fun to get out, splash around and check out how the other places were surviving the rain.

Here was someone's answer. They built a shelter.

Thankfully, the sun did re-emerge. Like 10 mins after we left. And it was a lovely day. Playing resumed and Josh had a ball. 

 

The 17th hole 

He loved it. Even though the actual golfing was cut way short. 

We left around 7:30 p.m. then had to book it to our hotel, check-in and change out of our nasty clothes. We had dinner reservations at the Capital Grille in St. John's Towncenter. Fancy smantcy.   

Outside the restaurant 

The food was outstanding (and it should have been). It was by far the nicest place we've ever been. The waitress even came by with a crumb gatherer (??? I'm sure there is a technical term for that) to scrap up all of our crumbs. Wow. After we ate, it was time to crash! 

Sunday I woke up early -- didn't really sleep well -- got dressed and packed. Then we headed over to Costco and St. John's Town Center. We did lunch (like we needed MORE FOOD) at the Cheesecake Factory. Then we walked around and shopped a bit. 

 

Feeling like I gained 80 lbs!

We were so ready to get back to the pups (who were under Erika's watchful eye). The rest of the day was spent chilling out and getting ready for the week.